Shop Safety....Smoke Detectors

Do you have a smoke detector in your shop? Tick as many as applicable

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 26.7%
  • No

    Votes: 41 68.3%
  • Stand alone battery powered

    Votes: 12 20.0%
  • Stand alone mains powered

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • Wired to the house and mains powered

    Votes: 6 10.0%
  • Linked to the house but wirelessly

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dont see the need for one

    Votes: 3 5.0%

  • Total voters
    60

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
I have never seen any mention of the use of smoke detectors on the forum.

After my weekend work during which I used my grinder to cut off some bolts resulting in a great deal of smoke and the trigger of my smoke detector which alerted the family in the house and had my wife on my phone in 2 secs I thought this might be a worthwhile point for people to consider.

What I did is to run a control wire from my house ( which by code has to have powered connected smoke detectors on each level) smoke detectors out to my shop along with my telephone cable and electric cable.

Then on the ceiling I hooked up a powered smoke detector with battry back up ( price difference is not that significant).

Now when I am in the shop and no one is in the house should the smoke detectors in the house go off they will trigger in the shop.

Conversely if there is a issue in the shop ( more likely) and I am in the house then the house smoke detectors will trigger.

I have also posted 2 fire extinuishers in the shop, one on either end of the building. For the cost you can never be too safe.

This was not a complicated thing to do. My first ever installation of smoke detectors not that it is difficult just want to ensure no one can say I could not do that.

So I thought I would add a poll to the thread if i can get it to work and we could see how many ww have a smoke detector etc.

Hope this reminds someone of the merits of smoke detectors like I have been alerted to safety at the table saw etc.
 
I have one hardwired in the shop ceiling, and truthfully, it's a hassle. Dust triggers the thing and then, over time, builds up. So then i don't trust it. It goes off when it shouldn't, and i'm skeptical that it would go off should it need to. I blow it out with low pressure compressed air, but don't know if i'm not damaging the sensor.

Is there a good, reliable "system" for this?

paulh
 
Mine is wired to all the others in the house and has battery backup. I haven't had the dust issues with it, don't know the brand. I have set it off when I've done some welding and created a little smoke with some oil that got set off, so know it's working.
 
I don't have a smoke detector. And don't see the need for one. I believe work generated smoke and dust would set it off. There are detectors in other areas of the house.
But, this thread has gotten me to thinking I should install a fire extinguisher. We have one upstairs but the shop doesn't.
 
no detector for the reasons mentioned already(the dust factor) but i do have 2 fire extinquishers. but i like the thought of knowing if one goes off in either location house or shop.. but i need to get one that doesnt have dust allergies:)
so if someone comes up with a model that does work reliably post your info for it.. and i will get the hook up info from rob!!!
 
My shop is in the basement. I have smoke detecters (Hard Wired) in two places in the house. came with the house. Added one in the furnace room (Battery), BUT like a BIG DUMMY never thought of one in the shop, too!

I will be getting one today!

Thanks for the thought.

Bruce
 
I have FOUR smoke detectors on the 2nd floor -- one in each bedroom, and one in the hall. The one in the hall is on house current. Actually I think it is code now to have one in each bedroom. Dunno, I just do NOT want any of us to sleep through it.

I have one by the kitchen (main floor). That's the annoying one, as the oven sets it off far too often. But I put up with it since I'm secretly kind of glad it is that sensitive.

I also have one in the basement, but not in my shop. (basement shop)
I DO have a fire extinguisher in the shop though.

Oh yeah, also a CO2 detector up in the hall by the bedrooms.
...art
 
Just for info, I too was concerned about the unit being set off. I was also concerned about dust.

Consider these points. 1) The unit hangs upside down. 2) Most of us have a air cleaner and/or dust collector. 3) The good ones have a reset button on the unit.

When my unit went off on the weekend I have a maple pole leftover from incomplete project, I just used this to reset it. I would rather have false alarms than a fire unoticed till its too late.

Then as for the hook up to the house. This could not be easier.

The powered units have three wire connection. One of which is red. You just daisy chain the red wires to each other and the units are connected. I know one wire does not seem like a circuit but remember the units are connected to the same mains source so there is the other connection for a communications circuit.

So if you wish to connect the units together you need to get the mains units. I bought a mains unit which also has a battery back up.

Can get the actual brand name and model if anyone particularly wants it.

On a funny note, when this incident occured my younger son (14) had a few of his mates over and they were in the basement. When the smoke detector in the shop went off and triggered the ones in the house my wife initially thought the young uns were smoking in the basement. :rofl::rofl::rofl: Poor guys guilty by age and association. Thats when I had the phone ring to verify it was me.:rofl: They got off the charge.

Glad to see some family members got value from the post.
 
2 points to add :

In the shop you should investigate using HEAT detectors instead of smoke detectors. I know very little about them (which qualifies me to make this internet post :thumb:) but I think they are Normally Open or Closed swithes that change state at a specific temperature. I believe they are small discs that would be ceiling mounted - they could be blown off with a compressor without damage. I don't know if you could (legally) daisy chain them with wired smoke detectors but it's worth investigating.

Smoke detectors in bed rooms - specifically kids bed rooms - are important. A friends son was having a sleepover in his room. The son sleeps with a small lamp on as a nightlight. The friend said it was too bright so they put a shirt over the lamp and fell asleep. Mom walks past later, smells smoke and opens the door as the shirt has burst into flames. The kids were sound asleep and with the door closed the fire would have expanded before the smoke got to the detector in the hallway. AS it was there was no damage except a few gray hairs for the adults involved.

I went out that night and put smoke detectors in my kids rooms and replaced the smoke and CO detectors in the hallway outside the bedrooms. $50 - 60 buys a lot of peice of mind . . .

Cheers

Jim
 
When we first got married, we found out the hard way the difference between smoke and heat detectors. Thankfully I woke up when I did. If not I wouldn't be here to tell you about it. The apartment was filled with smoke to the piont you almost had to feel your way around, yet the detector never went of because it only detected heat. Needless to say I had the management replace it with a smoke detector.
 
I would REALLY like a detector, However...

Hi,

Since I am a bit of a babble mouth, most of you know I am 83 years old. I hear fine, better than most in the lower frequencies. I cannot hear at all in the upper frequencies (typical old age hearing loss) where the smoke detector alarms function. Translation, I cannot hear smoke detector alarms! If I am close to the alarm it hurts my ears, however, I cannot hear it.

We have three smoke alarms and five fire extinguishers. If I am home alone I would get along fine with the extinguishers. However, I would not know that there was a fire until I saw it or smelled it. Anyway, that is why no alarm in the shop.

I have tried using a light as an alarm. My shop is well illuminated...so well that I never see the "light" alarm. I tried it in many locations with equally bad results. If some one would make an alarm with a lower frequency I would hear it easily and so would a few hundred thousand other elderly people with high frequency loss.

If you know an answer to my problem, please let me know,

Enjoy,

Jim
 
What an excellent point you make Jim. I would have thought there was something on the market for this purpose. I mean the people that are deaf have the same need. I will look into this and report back.:thumb:


Hi Jim I did some research specially for you and others with this issue. I think more important than the workshop is the home. Well I called Kidde a manufacturer and they have a talking alarm and also a harsh strobe light alarm for this purpose. Apparently the stobe is high intensity sufficient to actually penetrate your eyelids and wake you when you sleep. (That one I question but it has been tested).

Then better than that is a product called good vibrations. This would probably be good for you in more cases than just the smoke detector. It has a little transmitter that you carry around and vibrates. Whats good is the system connects to the doorbell, telephone, alarm type alert devices on window intrusion etc and smoke detectors. Not cheap but then whats your life worth. My guess would be that if you cannot hear the sound of a smoke detector you probably struggle with the phone etc.

Here is a link to the Good Vibrations kit along with other similar equipment. I am pretty sure if you called your local fire dept they would also give you advice on how to take prepare for this situation.

http://www.harriscomm.com/catalog/p...19626&hcCsid=461eae80bb33779cf0c4ffae648ad68a

Thanks for bringing this point up. Great for safety week.
 
Last edited:
I don't have a SD, and don't see need for one. My shop is a separate stand along building about 40 yards from the house. Plus I have generated some smoke a couple of times by over cooking wood in the microwave.. nasty smell by the way..
 
Being a home inspector I just happen to have the exact verbiage for smoke detectors. For residential smoke detectors the code number , R313.2 states the Location.

"R313.2 Location.
Smoke alarms shall be installed in the following locations:
1. In each sleeping room.
2. Outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms.
3. On each additional story of the dwelling, including basements but not including crawl spaces and uninhabitable attics. In dwellings or dwelling units with split levels and without an intervening door between the adjacent levels, a smoke alarm installed on the upper level shall suffice for the adjacent lower level provided that the lower level is less than one full story below the upper level.
When more than one smoke alarm is required to be installed within an individual dwelling unit the alarm devices shall be interconnected in such a manner that the actuation of one alarm will activate all of the alarms in the individual unit."
"R313.3 Power source.
In new construction, the required smoke alarms shall receive their primary power from the building wiring when such wiring is served from a commercial source, and when primary power is interrupted, shall receive power from a battery. Wiring shall be permanent and without a disconnecting switch other than those required for overcurrent protection. Smoke alarms shall be permitted to be battery operated when installed in buildings without commercial power or in buildings that undergo alterations, repairs or additions regulated by Section R313.2.1."

Smoke detectors are not good is a shop environment because of dust. That is the reason during construction there is a dust cover installed on the units to prevent damage.

If you have the money a residential sprinkler system is probably the best bet for a shop, but those do get expensive. and in some cases water can ruin as much stuff as fire. But they do save lives.

Good Luck

Alan
 
Last edited:
Top